A Day In Licorice Woods
by Daryl Wor
Summary: OMG... this story is so old. I can't believe I found it. I know I had a second chapter that had harsher humour that I never finished. Anyway. I think this is from the late 1990's. It's Chococat meets Purin. It's soooooo silly. Kinda sad at one point but gets better.


A HAPPY STORY ABOUT CHOCOCAT

Chococat is a very special kitty cat. He is black and has a blue collar and a chocolate coloured nose, which is why he was named Chococat. He loves to eat sweets and go on walking and hiking explorations with his friends. He has a number of good friends. Cookie, the red puppy. Jellybean, a blue bunny-rabbit. Nutz, a little yellow hamster, and three little ducklings, who're so small they haven't been given names yet.

Today Chococat was not going to eat candy with his buddies as he normally did. Today was the first day he was allowed to walk across Candy Cane bridge all by himself. He'd gone on several picnics with Cookie and Jellybean and Nutz and the Duckies accrossed the bridge. Perhaps they hadn't all gone together everytime, but Chococat had always needed someone to go with to be allowed to go. Not today, though. Today was going to be a new experience for Chococat.. He was a curious cat.

He had a small cloth bundle with a tuna fish sandwich and a lollipop. He liked tuna fish a lot, but he was looking forward to that lollipop. It was a rainbow flavored lollipop.

Chococat went along the garden path from his home until he reached Candy Cane bridge, a big red and white striped structure. Chococat rubbed his nose, a little nervously as he looked at the bridge. It felt so different without his friends with him that he couldn't believe he'd ever crossed the bridge before, at least for a minute or two.

Chococat took the first step onto the bridge, and then the second. He felt his toes curl and uncurl getting used to going over this bridge by himself. He missed all of his friends already as he looked over the edge of the bridge where they often dropped sticks and leaves and raced to the other side to see which ones would come out first.

Even if he had wanted his friends to come with him today they couldn't. Cookie Bau couldn't come with him. Cookie was playing with the puppies at the orphanage across the glen. Nutz was doing the annual food gathering for Springtime with his family. Jellybean was spending time in the meadow and the Duckies were taking swimming lessons and wouldn't have been able to come with him anyway without further supervision from the others. So, it was just Chococat on his own.

He stood on the side of bridge, leaning over the railing a little and staring down, feeling a little lonely. Then he became curious again, wiping away a little sniffle. "I'm out for adventure," he thought to himself, "and that's no reason to feel lonely!"

Chococat continued acrossed the bridge, sliding his paw along the railing as he went.

"Perhaps, I'll find a cat just like me," Chococat though to himself, excitedly, "but not too much like me, for then I wouldn't be quite myself, as there would be someone just like me." he was quick to add, as he completed crossing the bridge.

Chococat soon found the usual path downstream that his friends and he would take on picnics through the woods. He wondered if he should go in the same direction.

"If I go in the same direction I don't think it's likely that I'll see anything different from what I've already seen in this direction. But... if I take another way I might get lost. I don't think there are any other paths around Licorice Woods. " Chococat thought, tapping his choco-nose, which was his own namesake.

He looked in the opposite direction of the path that only lead back to the bridge with no fork. He knew the safest thing to do was go on the path, but Chococat, like many cats tend to be, was intensely curious.

"If I go strait along upstream that's almost like a path," Chococat thought to himself and then decided, rather hastily to go in that direction instead. He dug his claws tightly into the bag he was carrying in his paw so he wouldn't lose it and dove for the bushes upstream.

He had to work his way through the brambles and plants. Some of them were uncompromising and his little bag of lunch kept getting caught on stick bits or thorns of the plants.

"Get your own lunch," Chococat said, "this is kitty food and not for plants and bushes."

But the bag got caught too tightly on one of the thorns and Chococat started to tug really hard for it to let go. When he did this and the bag finally came loose, Chococat lost his balance and started unintentionally walking backwards, and then finally fell on his butt.

"Oh, PHOOEY!" he belted out loud, angrily. Then he noticed something underneath him where he'd been sitting. Somehow when he pulled on his lunch bundle and it finally came loose from the brambles, he tumbled backward and managed to fall right on it when he finally hit the ground. He looked at his flattened lunch sack, peeking inside to see his sandwich squashed and his lollipop broken in half.

Chococat was very sad and started to cry. Everything was ruined now. He'd come all this way by himself acrossed the bridge and destroyed his lunch and he still missed his friends, now more than before. Poor Chococat just sat there where he'd fallen, staring at what was left of his lunch. He looked at the bushes and trees. Everything seemed so much larger than it had before, but only because Chococat was sitting down which he didn't realize. Now he felt very lonely.

Chococat noticed a yellow flower as he sat in despair. He leaned over to pick it but it barked at him.

"MEOW!" he cried, frightened.

The flower then turned into a yellow dog coming out of the bushes.

"OH!" Chococat exclaimed, surprised. "Who are you?"

"Woof! I'm Purin!" the roly-poly puppy said, introducing himself to Chococat, "Who are you?"

"My name's Chococat."

The two looked at each other, curiously.

"What's that?" Purin asked, happily as he sniffed Chococat's open lunch bundle.

"That was my lunch." Chococat said, whimpering, "I fell down and sat on it."

"Ooo..." Purin said, the tip of his tonuge touching his nose, "What's in it?"

"It WAS a tuna fish sandwich and a lollipop."

Purin kept sniffing, "It looks really soft, at least the sandwich."

"Well, I guess you can have it if you want it."

"Let's share it." said Purin, taking off the paper wrapping and handing Chococat a half.

"Um, okay." Chococat said, taking the piece.

"Mmm, this isn't too bad." Purin said, eating it.

"You shouldn't talk with your mouth full." Chococat told him.

"Oh," Purin said, covering his mouth with his paws.

"I've never seen you before." Chococat said. "What kind of a name is Purin?"

"It means pudding. I'm the Pudding Dog." Purin told Chococat, "Why were you crying?"

"Oh, just because I was lonely and crushed my own lunch. Today is my first day acrossed Candy Cane bridge by myself. I'm an explorer."

"Really?" asked Purin, "I've never seen you before. Where are you from?"

"I'm from acrossed the bridge." Chococat said.

"Are you still lonely?" Purin asked, wagging his tail.

Chococat just stared at him and laughed, "You look so funny!"

"ME? You look rather funny yourself."

"You're fat." Chococat said.

"You have a strange pointed ears."

"That's because I'm a cat." Chococat explained.

"I've never seen a cat before." Purin told him.

"I've seen dogs before. One of my best friends is a dog named Cookie, but he's red and he isn't as big as you."

"Really? Do you think I'm big? I wanna be a big, big dog when I grow up like my Mom and Dad."

Chococat looked at the remnants of his lollipop. "Would you like to share this with me?"

"What is it? It looks yummy."

"It is, I guess it's not so bad that it's broken... now that I have someone to share it with." Chococat reasoned.

Purin licked his piece and was very delighted. Chococat smiled.

"I guess today wasn't so bad after all." Chococat said, "I met someone new."

"Yip!" Purin yipped in agreement.

Chococat and Purin talked with each other for a long time. Purin promised to show Chococat the rest of the forest someday while Chococat said he would be happy to bring him over the bridge when he was allowed to go by himself and show him all of his friends.

Chococat trotted back to the path after waving good-bye to his new friend, Purin.

"He's such a funny puppy." Chococat said to himself, taking another look over the edge of the Candy Cane Bridge. "But he sure was nice. I think we're going to be good friends."

Chococat forgot all about the spoiled lunch and skipped home. He couldn't wait to tell everyone about Purin the Pudding Dog.

THE END


End file.
